Just saw this on yahoo and haven't seen it here yet:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050108/ap_on_re_us/train_wreck
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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. - Toxic vapors from one of the nation's deadliest chemical spills in years will keep residents out of their homes until at least early next week as cleanup crews try to stop chlorine gas from leaking out of a wrecked train car.
At least eight people died and more than 250 were sickened after a freight train carrying the gas crashed early Thursday near a textile mill. The accident unleashed a greenish-yellow fog that seared people's eyes and lungs.
About 5,400 residents within a one-mile radius of the crash were forced to evacuate, with authorities telling people Friday they would not be allowed to return until Tuesday at earliest. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed within two miles of the wreck for fear that cool night air would cause the chlorine to settle close to the ground.
Authorities said all the deaths appeared to have been caused by the plume of gas that settled over its victims in their homes, their cars and the Avondale Mills textile plant. One of the dead was spotted by Gov. Mark Sanford, who flew over the site to survey the wreckage.
Two nine-member crews were working around the clock to apply a steel patch over a fist-sized hole in the train, said Aiken County Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank. The work could take until late Saturday.
Workers also were to begin removing chlorine from two additional railroad tankers involved in the crash
The accident happened about 2:40 a.m. Thursday when a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying 42 cars struck a parked train at a crossing next to the plant, where 400 workers were on the night shift making denim and other fabrics
Monica Channey, 29, heard the boom at home when the trains collided but thought nothing of it at first. "It's always something with the trains or with the mill," she said.
But when authorities came to evacuate her and her 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter, she bundled the children up "like mummies."
Channey had a scarf covering her mouth but could still smell the chlorine. "The fumes were like 'whoosh' — a bad ammonia, stronger than any cleaning solution," she said. "It took my breath away."
Five workers died at the mill. A man was found dead in a truck near the plant. Another man was found dead in his home. The train engineer died at a hospital.
Federal officials were investigating the cause of the wreck, but most officials were kept out of the area because of the toxic gas.
State and federal environmental officials have continued conducting air quality tests, finding either low levels or nothing at all a couple blocks away from the site. The crash site levels were higher.
"How high? We are not sure," state Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Thom Berry said. The levels exceed the monitor's limits, he said.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20050108/ap_on_re_us/train_wreck
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GRANITEVILLE, S.C. - Toxic vapors from one of the nation's deadliest chemical spills in years will keep residents out of their homes until at least early next week as cleanup crews try to stop chlorine gas from leaking out of a wrecked train car.
At least eight people died and more than 250 were sickened after a freight train carrying the gas crashed early Thursday near a textile mill. The accident unleashed a greenish-yellow fog that seared people's eyes and lungs.
About 5,400 residents within a one-mile radius of the crash were forced to evacuate, with authorities telling people Friday they would not be allowed to return until Tuesday at earliest. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed within two miles of the wreck for fear that cool night air would cause the chlorine to settle close to the ground.
Authorities said all the deaths appeared to have been caused by the plume of gas that settled over its victims in their homes, their cars and the Avondale Mills textile plant. One of the dead was spotted by Gov. Mark Sanford, who flew over the site to survey the wreckage.
Two nine-member crews were working around the clock to apply a steel patch over a fist-sized hole in the train, said Aiken County Sheriff's Lt. Michael Frank. The work could take until late Saturday.
Workers also were to begin removing chlorine from two additional railroad tankers involved in the crash
The accident happened about 2:40 a.m. Thursday when a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying 42 cars struck a parked train at a crossing next to the plant, where 400 workers were on the night shift making denim and other fabrics
Monica Channey, 29, heard the boom at home when the trains collided but thought nothing of it at first. "It's always something with the trains or with the mill," she said.
But when authorities came to evacuate her and her 12-year-old son and 10-year-old daughter, she bundled the children up "like mummies."
Channey had a scarf covering her mouth but could still smell the chlorine. "The fumes were like 'whoosh' — a bad ammonia, stronger than any cleaning solution," she said. "It took my breath away."
Five workers died at the mill. A man was found dead in a truck near the plant. Another man was found dead in his home. The train engineer died at a hospital.
Federal officials were investigating the cause of the wreck, but most officials were kept out of the area because of the toxic gas.
State and federal environmental officials have continued conducting air quality tests, finding either low levels or nothing at all a couple blocks away from the site. The crash site levels were higher.
"How high? We are not sure," state Department of Health and Environmental Control spokesman Thom Berry said. The levels exceed the monitor's limits, he said.
Gives you something to think about..Please note the 1-800 numbers on the hazmat cars.What are they thinking? Somebody is going to stand there writing down the number while there is a hazmat cloud floating from the car?